- 7/23/2025
On Wednesday's edition of Felger and Mazz, the guys reacted to the Red Sox falling 4-1 in yesterday's game to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Red Sox committed a catchers interference for the second straight game which in turn allowed a run, which led the guys to question whether or not the team fully understand the rules.
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00:00First inning against the Phillies last night, Bryce Harper essentially steals home.
00:05He was safe.
00:05So it's the story here isn't that he was ruled safe on catcher's interference and the rule itself, which we'll get into here a little bit.
00:16The story is you once again didn't know the rule.
00:18Correct.
00:19And the catcher interference calls continue to pile up on your Boston Red Sox.
00:26And I will just file under something I've been saying now for weeks.
00:29They don't know how to play baseball.
00:32They don't know how to play baseball.
00:35And that's another example of it.
00:36Maz, what were your thoughts?
00:37So the interesting part to me when you add it all up is that as soon as they've gone against good competition,
00:45they've completely defaulted to what they've been the whole year.
00:49In the last five games now, if you count the series with the Cubs, 55 strikeouts.
00:57So back to 11 strikeouts a game, whereas when they were playing well in those series against Colorado, Washington, even Tampa Bay, which again, Tampa Bay is, let's call it a B level team.
01:07They're not an A team like some of these other teams they're facing now that they didn't strike out a ton.
01:12But now they're striking out again.
01:13They're making stupid plays.
01:15They're running into each other in the outfield.
01:17They can't hold the glove behind the plate, the mitt behind the plate without letting it interfere with the batter's swing.
01:24Or they're stepping on the plate when they shouldn't be to receive a pitch.
01:28Like, all of this stupidity, all this stuff is now back 100%.
01:33And it's like the games in between never happened.
01:36They're completely defaulted back to who they are.
01:39To me, I don't know how you fix this.
01:44I don't know how this goes away.
01:46This is not something I think they can fix overnight.
01:49Not when they're a fundamentally dumb team like they are.
01:51I mean, really, they are stupid.
01:53And the thing that Narvaez did last night, this wasn't like the night before where his mitt got in the way of the swing.
02:01He came out from behind the plate to receive the pitch.
02:04I don't know if I've ever seen a catcher do that on an attempt to steal a home.
02:09There's just so much wrong with it.
02:11Well, first of all, what's his face?
02:14Dick Fitz is in his full windup with Bryce Harper at third base, which you sometimes see me.
02:21You can give me more insight on this.
02:23Sometimes when a runner's on third or there's bases loaded, the pitcher will come out of the stretch and go back to the full windup.
02:30Correct.
02:30Okay.
02:31But you're then inviting that runner on third to time you up.
02:35And once you start your motion there, you can't stop it because then you're going to balk him home.
02:40You got it.
02:41So, first of all, if you're going to pitch out of the windup there with the guy on third, you've got to account for him somehow.
02:51So, Fitz doesn't.
02:54He's just in his full windup.
02:57So, the reason it's catcher's interference or even a catcher's balk, and I know this now from reading about it the last 12 hours.
03:05Of course.
03:05Who knew?
03:06It's a confusing play, especially on the heels of what had happened the night before.
03:10You know, I didn't know.
03:11Even Lou there, you know, kind of knew, but, you know, they're fumbling around with it.
03:16But the point is, Navarez didn't know.
03:19So, the catcher is not, and I had heard last night that there's a catcher's box back there, that you're not allowed to leave the catcher's box before you catch the ball or before it crosses home plate.
03:28So, there's a little catcher's area back there that you have to stay there until it crosses the plate, or it's, I'm not sure what point you can leave it, but you can't leave it early.
03:41What the play would have been, if Dick Fitz had stepped off the rubber, then Navarez could have come in front of the plate.
03:48Correct.
03:48And fielded it there, but because it was a pitch.
03:51He can't come out.
03:52He can't come out of that catcher's box until it crosses home plate.
03:55Until he catches the ball.
03:56Or until he catches the ball.
03:57Right.
03:57Whichever that is.
03:59If Fitz had stepped off, then he could come out in front of the plate, but when you're in the full windup, you're not stepping off.
04:06Yep.
04:07So, that's what you invite, which Harper, to his credit, knows.
04:11Okay?
04:11So, this whole thing is just a little baseball thing that the Phillies are playing and you're not.
04:16So, like, I, all right, I'm getting frustrated already because it's like someone knows the rule and is playing baseball and you're just out there,
04:26just, just, okay, guys at third are going to wind up, big deal.
04:30He won't run.
04:31He runs.
04:32And then the catcher, like, oh, okay, I guess I got to come out and catch the ball.
04:35You can't do that.
04:37And the Red Sox have no idea what they're doing.
04:39No, that's right.
04:40And that's the ultimate takeaway is that they didn't know what to do.
04:43And the Phillies are playing baseball.
04:44Yes.
04:45He's thinking about it.
04:46He's in the wind up.
04:47He can't stop and step off the rubber.
04:49He's not in the stretch.
04:50He's, so, once he gets going, he can't stop.
04:52I'm going to take this.
04:53There was a left-handed batter.
04:55He's going to see me.
04:56Okay?
04:56And so, they knew it.
04:57You guys have no idea.
05:00Your pitcher's in the wind up.
05:01He's not accounting for the guy at third base.
05:03Your catcher doesn't know that he can't step out over the plate and receive the ball before he catches it unless the batter steps off.
05:11You have no clue about any of this.
05:12And none of us do.
05:13But the important thing is that they don't.
05:16You know, they were all confused, too.
05:18Lou was confused.
05:18We didn't step on the plate.
05:19Apparently, you don't have to step on the plate.
05:21I think it's about coming out of that catcher's box.
05:23It is.
05:23And the actual rule itself is you don't have to be on the plate, just over the plate.
05:29Reading from MLB.com, one of the rules they pulled up, if with a runner on third base and trying to score by means of a squeeze play or a steal,
05:37the catcher or any other fielder steps on or in front of home base without possession of the ball or touches the batter or his bat,
05:46the pitcher shall be charged with a balk, the batter shall be awarded first base, and the interference and the ball is dead.
05:52Yeah, I'm sorry.
05:54We're at first base on the interference and the ball is dead.
05:56When asked about the crew chief, he even brought up it's a balk on the catcher.
06:01He says that Quinn Walcott said, I mean, in the rule at one point, it references interference on the catcher,
06:08which is why the batter is awarded first base.
06:10It's also a balk on the catcher, which is unusual, obviously, which is why both runners advance as well.
06:16I'll say so.
06:17I never heard of a balk on a catcher, but leave it to you.
06:20Leave it to this Red Sox team to actually be charged with a balk on the catcher.
06:31Have you ever been watching baseball since I was in my footie pajamas in Milwaukee as a four-year-old boy?
06:35I've never heard of a balk on a catcher, but leave it to the Red Sox because they don't know the rules.
06:43I'll reiterate, they don't know how to play baseball.
06:46They have good baseball players with good swings and pitchers with velocity and spin rate and batters with good launch angle.
06:57They have those things, but they don't know how to play baseball games.
07:01And it's been coming up over and over and over again.
07:04I mean, really, it's astonishing how many mistakes they make.
07:06It really is a lesson in learning the rule book at the same time with this team.
07:10But on a steal at home, it makes sense.
07:12If you watch most steals at home, the catcher attempts to tag more often than not by just kind of falling on his knees and reaching forward.
07:19He doesn't sprawl or dive out in front of the plate because he can't.
07:23You know, it has to come.
07:24By the time he receives the ball, the guy's in his slide and all he can do, the quickest thing he can do is reach forward.
07:30So that's what he does.
07:31And Narvaez clearly learned it by the end of the game because after the game he was asked about it, he said, do you regret anything on that play?
07:38And he says, well, I regret standing up and stepping out to catch the ball.
07:43He didn't know he wasn't allowed to do it.
07:44He did not know it.
07:45Because you know why?
07:46Because they're not teaching them how to play baseball.
07:49Correct.
07:49There is that.
07:50They've been teaching him how to put the ball in the air in the batting cage, but they're not teaching him how to play the game of baseball.
07:58Exactly right.
07:59And it came up again.
08:02That's one outrage.
08:04I mean, you're not going to win the game anyway.
08:05You're not hitting.
08:07So, like, you know.
08:08It's almost like the lineup could use a big bat, huh?
08:10Oh, interesting.
08:11Yeah, right.
08:12And they're now looking for a first baseman, too, apparently.
08:14Yeah.
08:14They could use a guy to play first base who can hit.
08:17There's a guy in San Francisco who's playing first base who's had, like, three home runs in the last two days and driven on, like, nine runs.
08:23Huh.
08:23Interesting.
08:24Maybe he can make a trade with them.
08:26So here's the second outrage.
08:27Because I belong to this wretched Nessun 360 app.
08:32Oh, this is great.
08:34They, I guess they've, they have redone it.
08:37Like, and I have to say, the actual app, the product's a little better there.
08:42The functionality, what would you call it?
08:44Accessibility on the app?
08:45I don't know.
08:45Whatever.
08:46It's a little better.
08:47Ease of use.
08:48Yeah, user-friendly.
08:49Okay, so, yeah.
08:50More user-friendly.
08:51Okay, great.
08:51So now I'm getting gouged $30 a month.
08:54I only have to click once instead of twice.
08:56They've polished the turd.
08:58Yeah, right.
08:59But as, I think they've also stepped up, like, their alerts or whatever.
09:02Because now I'm getting, like, emails from them where I really wasn't.
09:05I'm getting emails on content.
09:07Like, I need Nessun content.
09:08But I got a news alert on my phone from Nessun.
09:15Nessun news alert.
09:17I think this was Tuesday, Monday afternoon.
09:21Headline.
09:22Blockbuster Red Sox trade looks like latest whiff for Giants front office.
09:28Subhead.
09:29Buster Posey may soon regret the Raphael Devers trade.
09:32And then I'm like, well, this is kind of gross.
09:36I said, this is like, oh, but this is typical Red Sox.
09:39They're going to, like, take a victory lap on the Devers trade
09:42by linking to a column written out in San Francisco.
09:45Because this is clearly written from the San Francisco point of view, right?
09:49Blockbuster Red Sox trade looks like latest whiff for Giants front office.
09:53Buster Posey may soon regret the Raphael Devers trade.
09:55Now, that's something that you would write if you wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle.
09:58Absolutely.
09:59Or SF Today or whatever their websites are.
10:02Did that link take you there?
10:03So I opened it up.
10:05I started reading it.
10:07By someone named Tyler Maurer.
10:09I didn't see San Francisco Chronicle or whatever, but I'm just reading the story.
10:13Because I assume, obviously, it's from the San Francisco.
10:14They just linked to a San Francisco story.
10:17I mean, the way that headline is written suggests that the people in San Francisco are getting antsy.
10:21This is San Francisco.
10:22This is from the San Francisco perspective.
10:23I'm like, this is really cheesy.
10:25And typical Red Sox that they're linking to this story.
10:29They write that Buster Posey's taken some big swings since becoming the Giants president of baseball operations last fall.
10:34So far, most of them have been misses.
10:37Last winter, Posey added Willie Adamas and Justin Verlander in free agency.
10:40Giving Adamas the largest contract in Giants history at seven years and $182 million.
10:46The star shortstop has struggled in his first season with San Francisco.
10:49Batting .222 with 14 home runs and a 1.0 war in 99 games.
10:55Meanwhile, Verlander's been one of the worst pitchers in baseball this year.
10:58Going 0-8 with a 4-9-9 ERA.
11:01I didn't even realize that.
11:01Me neither.
11:02So I'm like, boy.
11:02So I'm reading it.
11:03I'm like, this San Francisco columnist is really getting after Buster Posey here.
11:07The 42-year-old former ace appears to be over the hill.
11:12And signing him to a one-year $15 million deal hasn't paid off.
11:18Then they embed a tweet from someone named Michael Marino.
11:21I think he covers MLB.
11:23He's a blue checkmark.
11:24Not that that means anything.
11:25But it's Michael Marino, MLB.
11:26So he's an MLB writer.
11:28And this tweet, in the embedded tweet, it says,
11:31Pretty early on, but it's beginning to look very clear that Buster Posey should not be running.
11:36The Giants.
11:38The Devers deal already looks terrible.
11:40Adamus has been bad.
11:41And Justin Verlander looks like the worst pitcher in baseball.
11:44Sniffing the wild card, but some brutal misses.
11:48And so it goes on and on, this rip job of Buster Posey,
11:51and maybe they should take the power away from him.
11:52I'm like, boy, this San Francisco writer is really getting after the Giants.
11:56It's like San Fran Shaughnessy.
11:57And they're like, okay, so where's the link?
11:59I want to pull up the full story from the San Francisco Chronicle or SF Today.
12:03I'm making this up.
12:04You know what I mean?
12:04Whatever the sites are.
12:07And then I, Tyler Maher.
12:09So that's the author, Tyler Maher.
12:12So then I clicked on Tyler Maher.
12:14I copied and pasted.
12:16And I looked up his name.
12:17No, Nesson.com.
12:19That was written by Nesson.com.
12:21Huh.
12:22Convenient.
12:23Is that the biggest chump move you've ever seen?
12:27No.
12:27I mean, there's been bigger.
12:29But what losers.
12:32What a chump move.
12:34You wrote.
12:35You.
12:36Nesson.
12:37The Red Sox.
12:39Wrote a takedown piece of Buster Posey and the moves he's made in San Francisco.
12:45Not just, like, taking a victory lap on the Red Sox post-Raf Dovers.
12:49It's what the Giants are under Buster Posey.
12:53Oh, my God.
12:55They can't help themselves.
12:56Really?
12:57That is, like, seriously.
12:59That would be the equivalent of us putting something on our website, ripping the other radio stations down.
13:03I mentioned it the other day, and I sent it to Maz off-air, too.
13:06Remember, in Shaughnessy's recent, like, picked-up pieces column, where he was giving the Red Sox their flowers for the 10-game winning streak.
13:12In it, he said, I got an email or a text from a high-ranking Red Sox executive asking, how do you like us now?
13:19This is the thing.
13:20Like, you get your own way, and this is what makes people.
13:23Stop doing this.
13:24Why do they have to do this?
13:25What losers?
13:26Yes.
13:27You've got to be kidding me.
13:28Tyler Maher.
13:30Nesson.com.
13:32Because I had to look it up.
13:33I was trying to find the San Francisco link.
13:35I know it was them.
13:37The Red Sox wrote this.
13:40Tyler Maher, former editor for Forbes Advisor, Minute Media, and MLB.com.
13:45Tufts alum, Maz.
13:47Oh!
13:48You must be smart.
13:50Tufts alum, Massachusetts native, and huge Boston sports fan.
13:54No.
13:54Well, here it goes.
13:55Right out the window.
13:57He's a Boston sports fan.
13:58Great, but why did you say so?
14:00Oh, cool.
14:01He's a Boston sports fan.
14:03And he bleeds green, I'm sure.
14:06Oh, God.
14:07Boston.
14:08Thank God they put that in his bio.
14:10Otherwise, I wouldn't want to read him.
14:11Thank God I know he's a Boston sports fan.
14:15I'm not blaming this kid.
14:16He's got a job.
14:18Tyler, I don't know you.
14:19I believe me.
14:19It's not about you.
14:20But it's so insufferable.
14:23It's the definition of propaganda.
14:26Oh, Boston sports.
14:27Great.
14:28Boston sports.
14:29Go green.
14:30Oh, now I'll read him.
14:32Good to know he's a Boston sports fan.
14:34Oh, yeah.
14:36Oh, God.
14:37Go green.
14:39Love the Sox.
14:41I'm a Boston sports fan.
14:44That's embarrassing.
14:45You put that on your bio as a writer.
14:48Yeah, but I guess not anymore.
14:49That ship has sailed.
14:51You could say something called no cheering in the press box.
14:53Now you just blast it.
14:55I'm a big Sox fan.
14:58It's embarrassing.
14:59I can't stand what's become of this.
15:01But it's not about Tyler.
15:02I don't mean to.
15:03It's not about him.
15:04It's not.
15:05A young kid.
15:06This is what the world has become.
15:08Right.
15:08And I blame Portnoy.
15:10And I blame all you kids on your phone.
15:12And it's not Tyler's fault.
15:14It's Simmons.
15:14A Boston sports guy.
15:16Like a big Boston sports fan.
15:19Like that's important.
15:19That's what you need.
15:20You want the guys that cover your team to be big fans of the team?
15:23You need that?
15:25I can't.
15:26But it's not his fault.
15:27It started a long time ago and the ship has sailed.
15:30A big Boston sports guy.
15:32But how embarrassing of the Red Sox.
15:34When you told me about this, I went, you've got to be kidding.
15:37You've got to be kidding.
15:38Again, it is the definition of propaganda.
15:42Like let us put out any type of crap that promotes our agenda and what our agenda is.
15:49But it's one thing.
15:51And I would expect this.
15:53And in some level, you're allowed to do it.
15:55To say in the three weeks since we've traded Raffi Devers, this is what we are.
16:01This is our record.
16:03This is how we're hitting.
16:04This is how we're performing.
16:06This is how we performed before the trade.
16:08This is how we are performing after the trade.
16:10And that's totally fair game.
16:12We do it every day on the show.
16:13No problem.
16:14And when it looks good for the Red Sox, if the Red Sox and Nesson want to put that out,
16:18I get it.
16:19But to take down Buster Posey for signing Justin Verlander, what kind of a-hole move is that?
16:28Or to take down Buster Posey for signing Willie Adamas?
16:31What kind of jack-weed move is that?
16:36What is that?
16:38So now I wonder, is there bad blood between the franchises?
16:43Or was there something in the fallout that it says, no, we're not just going to promote what we are without Raffi Devers.
16:51We're going to take down Posey to call out his entire offseason and his entire baseball moves.
17:00Why?
17:01So why did the Red Sox feel the need to do that?
17:04Because Posey's not an analytics guy?
17:07Is that it?
17:07I don't know.
17:08I'm guessing.
17:09No, good, good, good, good, good.
17:10Because we certainly, on the show, definitely we stroked Buster Posey pretty good.
17:14But, and I like Buster Posey, his background, the way he talks.
17:20Me too.
17:21Looks like a bait.
17:21Unlike your freaking soulless nerd clone, Buster Posey actually looks, talks, and feels like he played the sport.
17:30As opposed to your cyborg.
17:32Empty suit.
17:33Stiff.
17:35Posey actually feels like he has a heartbeat.
17:37And I'd love to have Buster Posey as my GM.
17:39And we said that that day.
17:40Maybe that's what that's about.
17:41Yeah, so I don't know that it could be anything personal, because I don't think there's any personal, I mean, what do I know?
17:46Did I just get the notice?
17:47What did everybody get the notice?
17:48Are they just saying, how do you like Buster Posey now?
17:51I wouldn't give them a dime.
17:52I'm never signing up for that crap.
17:53Oh, it's just so low rent.
17:56Oh, I bet you it was an easy target, because, again, he's your traditional baseball guy.
18:00They've handed over their baseball operation to a guy, again, who's more of a, you know, former player.
18:05Not that Breslow isn't, but sounds like, as you said, like a baseball guy.
18:09And it's an opportunity to mock him.
18:11That's what it feels like to me.
18:13To write a takedown piece of his off-season signings of Justin Verlander and Willie Adamas.
18:17What a chump move.
18:20And so let's just take this state, I've gone way too long.
18:23But the Boston sports fan thing, really, that to me is like, what's happened to our business?
18:30Now you've got to promote.
18:32Now you better cheer in the press box.
18:34It used to be no cheering in the press box.
18:35Now if you don't cheer in the press box and tell people to order a t-shirt on Barstool, you're like, you're out.
18:45What was I just going to say?
18:46Oh, so since this story came out, guys, written by your Boston sports fan,
18:51Rafi Devers is playing first base and ripping the cover off the baseball.
18:55And you can't even catch the baseball behind home plate without getting a catcher's interference.
19:00So isn't that amazing how that works, Maz?
19:02Isn't that something how that just sort of comes around?
19:04Convenient timing.
19:05Called karma.
19:06Could have used him last night.
19:07Red Sox deserve every single bit of it.
19:10This thing.
19:11That story, that's embarrassing.
19:12It is embarrassing.
19:13It's low grade.
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